Direct deposit your savings. Here’s another helpful tip for organizing your finances: Set up a direct deposit for your savings! Now, this depends on what Baby Step you’re on—because if you’re busy paying off debt, that’s your financial focus right now. But if you’re putting money away for your emergency fund or retirement investments, it makes life a whole lot easier if you set up a direct deposit. No moving money over (and maybe forgetting about it). Just a streamlined, organized process for getting ahead on your savings goals!
Pay your bills online.
Speaking of forgetting things, have you ever forgotten to pay a bill on time? And then had to pay late fees? Yuck. Life gets busy—but setting up automatic payments for your online bills is a wonderful way to, once again, streamline your finances! Just make sure you know when the payments will hit your bank account so you’ve always got enough in there to cover it all. You don’t want to pay overdraft fees. Double yuck.
Use the envelope system.
Have you heard about the envelope system? It’s a fantastic way to (literally) organize money. With the envelope system, you put cash for different budget lines in envelopes (or an accordion folder or a wallet with dividers—whatever works for you!). You can see, right in front of you, how much is left for groceries after that Aldi run. You’ll know if you can afford brunch and goat yoga with friends, because you’ve got the cash right in front of you. You don’t have to make an envelope for every single budget line (remember those autopay bills, for example), but it’s a fantastic way to keep your spending organized and under control.
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